Photo Albums

February 17, 2013

With all the Snow Around, Sledding is on the Mind

After listening to WS describe some of the beautiful landscapes he has seen, and looking at pictures he has taken over the years when he has been out snowmobiling, I told him that I would like to at least learn how, to see if is something I would enjoy.

Yesterday, he and Jimmy decided it would be a good day to go to Greenfield State Park to give me a place to learn (low 40's and no wind). We trailered the sleds over, then I got a quick lesson (this is the throttle, this is the brake, these are the heat controls for the grips), I was off to a shaky start just because I'm naturally nervous about this type of thing - plus with WS as an observer, that adds extra pressure.

We stayed within a small area of the park, where we rarely saw anyone else, which was good as far as I was concerned.

I forgot the camera, but got a couple of pics by phone:

The guys starting to take off ahead of me. Yes, I was stopped when I took this picture. Yes, I lost sight of them while I was putting my phone away and gloves on. No, they didn't let me stay lost (they are so good to a newbie!)

The guys and the sleds. I started out on the "purple" sled at the forfront of the picture. It is the oldest of the lot, very heavy and with heavy stearing. However, it does actually hold into turns better than some sleds. It does take a lot of physical stamina and strength to control for very long, so after a while on it, WS had me try the white and black sled. It is the newest of the lot, with very light steering and a more forward sitting position. It is does not "bite" into corners as well as the purple sled, but I wasn't going very fast (mostly arougn 20 mPH - did get up to 27 at one point), so it wasn't an issue. It was nice getting to sit on two completely different style sleds to see how the seating, leg position and everything else afffected comfort and control of the sled.

Jimmy offered to let me try his sled (the sled in the background of the picture), but I didn't feel up to the challenge of riding a 2-up sled with at track that is much longer than the other two sleds.

We were there about 2.5 hours and had lots of fun. I will have to do this a few more times before I can decide whether I want to do this on a regular basis - but I didn't do badly for someone who has never actually sat on a sled before!